Inside the dark auditorium of Beacon Academy, many prospective students were deep in sleep to get some rest for the initiation that would take place the next day.
But there were four girls who were huddled in a corner who had other plans.
Ruby looked at Yang, Blake, and Weiss with a speechless look on her face.
"….So, all of you have spent at least two decades in those worlds while Yang and Blake spent considerably more time with Blake spending 70 Years and Yang spending 80 Years?"
Yang looked at her sister with amusement. While she had informed Ruby about her adventures while they were children, she had never mentioned just how long she spent on Tamriel until now.
As for Blake, she was also suppressing her shock. Until this moment, she had thought that she was the only one who spent a long time in the other world. But now, she learned that Yang had spent even more time than herself away from her family and team.
Weiss, on the other hand, was positively giddy. Despite having the mentality of a magus, she was also extremely conscious of the fact that she was mentally older than the rest of her team. But with this conversation between the team, all her worries were nullified. As it turns out, aside from Ruby who was sulking at the fact that she was once again the youngest member of the team despite being over 30 years old mentally, Weiss was the second youngest at just over 50 years old mentally.
With these thoughts in mind, Weiss's curiosity as a Magus awakened and she started asking the rest of the team for details about the worlds they were sent to and the powers that they gained there, all the while pushing her worries to the back of her mind.
As the team shared their stories, Weiss's worries started to become stronger and stronger.
From the very beginning, Weiss had doubts about what or who was responsible for throwing the members of Team RWBY across different worlds. She knew from her knowledge about the Kaleidoscope that while it was possible to 'Slip' between realities, it would not result in the misplaced person gaining additional properties to their bodies as she and her team did.
Yang had gained the soul of a Dovah, as she called them. From her words, the only explanation would be for the gods of that world to grant her that boon. Normally, Weiss would buy this explanation at face value if not for her worries that caused her to doubt those claims.
The modifications done to Blake were even more extensive in the form of the Chakra network.
From what Blake said, there existed no technology or technique in that world that allowed for something as extensive as a pseudo-nervous system for carrying pure energy to be transplanted. That meant that just like Yang, there was the hand of something greater than a human in her arrival to that world.
Thankfully, the modifications to Ruby's body were much more easily explained as they were the product of technology and genetic engineering. However, that opened a whole other can of worms that Weiss decided to tackle at a different time.
Then there was Weiss herself. She knew for a fact that her soul never housed Magic Circuits in them, let alone a Magic core as she had now, simply due to the words of Merlin. Although that flowery bastard was unreliable at the worst of times and a shameless womanizer, he was worthy of being called the strongest magus when it came to his knowledge and insight about anything related to magecraft.
From what Merlin said, the Magic Core in my soul seems artificially created and placed there just like how he was responsible for Artoria having a Magic Core. Added to the fact that there were only a few minutes of time since Weiss fell from a portal over Camelot and she was rescued by Artoria and her knights, this implantation either occurred before or during the time Weiss fell from the bridge and ended up in Camelot.
All these events pointed to one thing.
Someone was responsible for separating team RWBY into different worlds when they fell from the light bridge.
As Weiss pondered on this problem, Ruby sulked, and Yang and Blake engaged in a philosophical debate, they failed to sense or hear the arrival of a man that silently sneaked into the room and walked to the other side where he spread out a sleeping bag.
With his body covered in the sleeping bag, he silently watched the members of Team RWBY as his unnaturally glowing blue eyes held deep sorrow and happiness as he watched their happily chatting form.
As his suspicions were confirmed, he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep while meditating instead to preserve energy for the upcoming event.
While he was not worried about the initiation, he was worried about how he would face the rest of his former team without breaking down in tears at their mere sight.
Thankfully, the meditation technique he picked up from Ikora allowed him to contain his emotions and start looking at everything in a practical form.
This time, he will make sure that none of his friends will suffer.
He is a Guardian, and he will show everyone why he earned that title, just like the rest of his brethren.
As the prospective students of Beacon Academy started getting ready for the initiation, Weiss was busy looking for a certain redhead.
Because of Jaune's absence, it fell to Team RWBY to make sure their sister team would get a capable leader to protect them from what was coming. This meant that Weiss had to look for Pyrrha in the locker room just like she did the first time around but with a different goal.
Weiss learned from Jaune back on Atlas that Pyrrha had chosen him to be her partner and it was not a random coincidence that she was waiting in the jungle for Weiss to leave during the initiation to pair up with Jaune. He also told her the reason why Pyrrha chose Jaune.
That meant that Weiss needed to look out for the redhead since there was no telling if someone with the wrong intentions had also figured out how to get into Pyrrha's good books.
While the rest of the team had called her paranoid for thinking like that, Weiss felt that it was better to be paranoid and wrong than to be right and unprepared.
But just as she finally found Pyrrha, she was stunned to see that she was already talking to someone.
The man was covered in heavy armor that would have put even Lancelot's overly bulky armor to shame. But this man's armor looked much more technological and advanced.
The real reason why he stood out, however, was due to the way he carried himself.
Despite just standing there and talking with Pyrrha, completely unarmed, Weiss's instincts were already in a fight or flight response, ready for her to either start fighting instantly or retreat. His stance screamed of being in a forced relaxed state, just like she and the rest of the Knights would be whenever they were required to attend a social event.
Whoever this man was, he was dangerous. And that was something that she could not accept to be anywhere near her friends.
With a decision made, Weiss walked towards Pyrrha and caught the tail end of their conversation.
"….So would you like to be on my team?"
At the man's words, Weiss found the perfect time to interject in the conversation.
"And just what makes you think that you are worthy of having Pyrrha Nikos on your team?"
Weiss internally winced as she caught the flash of hurt that passed through Pyrrha's face before it was replaced with a fake pleasant expression. She would make it up to Pyrrha later but for now, she was busy protecting her from an unknown man who screamed danger to her senses.
The man's helmed face looked down at Weiss, reminding her of her lack of development when it came to height, further fuelling her annoyance and hostility.
"And why am I not 'worthy' of having her on my team?"
Weiss prepared herself and started speaking like the spoiled brat that she used to be before she met her friends the first time around. She knew, that she would end up pushing Pyrrha away with what she was about to say, but if it would mean her friends would be safe, she was ready to be called a stuck-up, spoiled, demonized, or even be called evil.
"Well, Pyrrha graduated top of the class at Sanctum, won the mistral regional tournaments four times in a row, a new record by the way, and is given the nickname of the invincible girl. So tell me, do you think you are worthy of having her as your teammate?"
Weiss could practically feel the disappointment from Pyrrha standing behind her, but she simply closed her eyes, knowing that she had managed to stave off this strange man from her friend.
"Then, how about you join my team as well? Snow Angel?"
Weiss nearly blew her top with that nickname and got ready to give a stern lecture to the man about using nicknames without her permission, only for her words to stop dead and strength drained from her body as she looked up at the man who had now removed his helmet.
While the scars were new, his face was much more defined and his hair was in a completely different style from the last time she saw him, there was no mistaking who was standing in front of her.
As he smiled down at her warmly and spoke, she did the first thing that came to her mind.
"Long time no see-WHOA!"
Jaune's surprised yelp was quite loud, but Weiss couldn't care less as she caught him in a strong hug which she soon felt him return.
Finally, one of her biggest worries had been solved.